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Oil palm expansion and deforestation in Southwest Cameroon associated with proliferation of informal mills

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Ordway, Elsa M. Naylor, Rosamond L. Nkongho, Raymond N. Lambin, Eric [UCL]

Oil palm expansion resulted in 2 million hectares (Mha) of forest loss globally in 2000–2010. Despite accounting for 24% (4.5 Mha) of the world’s total oil palm cultivated area, expansion dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa have been overlooked. We show that in Southwest Cameroon, a top producing region of Africa, 67% of oil palm expansion from 2000–2015 occurred at the expense of forest. Contrary to the publicized narrative of industrial-scale expansion, most oil palm expansion and associated deforestation is occurring outside large agro-industrial concessions. Expansion and deforestation carried out by non-industrial producers is occurring near low-efficiency informal mills, unconstrained by the location of highefficiency company-owned mills. These results highlight the key role of a booming informal economic sector in driving rapid land use change. High per capita consumption and rising palm oil demands in sub-Saharan Africa spotlight the need to consider informal economies when identifying regionally relevant sustainability pathways.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès libre
Publication date 2019
Language Anglais
Journal information "Nature Communications" - Vol. 10, no. 1, p. 114 [1-11] (2019)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Nature Publishing Group ((United Kingdom) London)
e-issn 2041-1723
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - SST/ELI/ELIC - Earth & Climate
Keywords General Biochemistry ; Genetics and Molecular Biology ; General Physics and Astronomy ; General Chemistry
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Bibliographic reference Ordway, Elsa M. ; Naylor, Rosamond L. ; Nkongho, Raymond N. ; Lambin, Eric. Oil palm expansion and deforestation in Southwest Cameroon associated with proliferation of informal mills. In: Nature Communications, Vol. 10, no. 1, p. 114 [1-11] (2019)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/213960